Chronicles of The Elimination diet Part 3

So far so good.  The first day at school went quite well - Thayden had a thumbs up day.  He didn't like my homemade soup (I'm not too surprised, he's not a big fan of soup) but ate everything else.  Both his teachers agreed the attention he got from having a "special diet" was a self-esteem booster for him.  Hmmm...maybe Thayden is struggling with self-esteem issues and instead of internalizing into depression and anxiety he acts out?  We'll think about that one a little more.

In the mean time, moving on to Day 5:
Breakfast:  rice cereal with rice milk, rice english muffin with raspberry jelly
Lunch:  left over baked chicken and brown rice, sliced raw veggies (carrot, celery, pepper), banana and rice milk (turns out he didn't eat the chicken - getting him to eat meat is like pulling teeth.)
Snack:  rice cake with honey, fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries and strawberries)
Dinner:  mango chicken with brown rice, spinach, avocado and rice milk

Sample plate (this is actually quinoa)

 This was a delicious meal!  I put more spinach and threw all the ingredients together to make a salad to take to work last night, and after trying a bite I managed to eat the whole thing before I even left for work...whoops!  I thought it was one of the most nummy things I've made (especially having to extremely modify any "recipe" that gave me inspiration so it would fit T's diet.  

My salad

 I sauteed the chicken breasts in olive oil, then added onions, green onions, and garlic and sauteed some more.  Then I put in a cup of apple juice, brought to a boil, and then added 2 cut up mangoes and cooked until they were tender.  It would have been even better if I could have put more spices in, salt and pepper helped.  The quinoa with the avocado was quite a tasty addition, and the liquid worked great as a dressing.  Too bad my family didn't agree with me.  Troy said Thayden ate all his food after much encouragement and Sierra wouldn't touch it.  And my husband? He said, "yeah, you don't have to make that again."  Maybe just for me?  I ate the left overs today. 

Day 6
Breakfast: coconut yogurt with kiwi, rice cereal with rice milk
Lunch:  quinoa, fresh berries (blueberry, raspberry, strawberry) - troy packed his lunch and I guess he thought since he doesn't eat the chicken he wasn't going to give him any! - and as it turned out he didn't eat the quinoa either.
Snack:   carrots and celery
Dinner:  grilled chicken, broccoli, rice bread with jelly

Yesterday one of Thayden's classmates had a birthday, complete with birthday cake.  As he was eager to take the piece with the baseball, Ms. Katie reminded him about his special diet and he was such a big boy!  Got his snack and ate it while all his friends were eating cake he didn't complain at all!  (OK, it does almost make me teary to deny him of special event cake, especially when all his friends have it, but I am so proud of him for dealing with it so well.  He has also continued to have "thumbs up" days at school every day this week (making 3 days in a row!!!) Troy said his behavior has been better than normal at home as well in the evenings (I am working evenings/nights currently.)  - OK, now that I didn't get this post published earlier, it turns out that the evening of the 6th day didn't go very well at home - both the kids were pretty misbehaved Troy said.

Day 6 in the afternoon before I headed to work, Ms. Katie called me wanting to tell me how good of a week Thayden has been having and how much of a difference she thinks the diet has made. Well, I guess that is motivation to continue.

Day 7 (because now it's past lunch on day 7 so I might as well continue with this post)
Breakfast: watermelon, applesauce, rice yogurt with blueberries and raspberries
Lunch:  left over grilled chicken, broccoli and rice, rice bread with coconut butter and honey
Snack:  watermelon and rice crackers

Dinner is still pending...we'll see.